Burlaries Soar On Hotel Strip Law Officials Call For Bigger Budget To Head Off Crime

June 21, 1985|By Tom Pinnock of The Sentinel Staff

KISSIMMEE — Hotel-room burglaries within the West U.S. Highway 192 tourist area have increased so dramatically since the opening of Walt Disney World that law enforcement officials say only a major budget increase will stem the tide.

The strip along West U.S. 192 in Osceola County has nearly 15,000 hotel rooms, 5,000 campsites, and as many as 40,000 tourists at a time. It also has more crime than any other area in the 1,313-square-mile county.

Records show that 79 crimes were reported on West U.S. 192 in 1975. That was four years after Walt Disney World opened, and the race to build hotels for tourists was just beginning.

In May of this year, statistics show that 468 of the 2,176 calls to the Osceola County Sheriff's Department came from West U.S. 192. In the first five days of June, hotels there were burglarized 31 times.

''I'm not an alarmist, but it's a very busy area that requires the presence of law enforcement,'' said Osceola County Sheriff Robert Fornes. ''At this point, there is no preventive law enforcement out there; we're simply going from one call to the other.''

''These calls include everything from disturbances to armed robbery, and involve both amateur and professional criminals,'' said Capt. Ken Baker.

Don Barnes, past president of the Osceola County Hotel/Motel Association, said that better police protection is the first priority for hotel owners.

''We invite the tourists down, so we have a responsibility to protect them,'' Barnes said. ''They're entitled to it.''

Barnes said other hotel owners and managers agree.

''Right now we're an easy target for robbers because we're out here by ourselves. We've already had two robberies this week, and once we get a bad reputation for this sort of thing we'll all be in trouble.''

Ten years ago, one deputy patrolled the West U.S. 192 zone. One deputy still patrols the strip, which runs west on U.S. 192 from the western city limits of Kissimmee to the Lake County line, 22 miles away.

In comparison, seven uniformed officers and five investigators are responsible for Daytona Beach's 6-mile strip along State Road A1A. It has about 11,000 hotel rooms.

Fornes has asked for a record $7.1 million 1985-86 budget to put more officers in the area.

''We're running on four cylinders right now, and we need eight,'' Fornes said.

Osceola is the fastest growing county in the fastest growing state in the nation.

Between 1970 and 1984, the county's population grew by 140 percent. Today's population is about 70,000, and is expected to top 104,000 in five years. Fornes said that when all the motels and campsites are filled with tourists, Osceola's ''real population is actually closer to 120,000.''

In March 1982, six months before Epcot's opening, Osceola had about 9,500 rooms. Two years later that figure was about 13,000, an increase of more than 35 percent.

According to the Brochure/Guide Publication, Osceola County has 111 hotels with a total of 16,500 rooms. In comparison, there were 52 hotels with a total of 8,746 rooms in 1979.

''On a daily basis, we are responsible for the health and safety of another 50,000 people in this community,'' said Mike Bast, county commission chairman. ''We spend a million a year now in promotions. If a guest staying in one of the hotels has his room broken into, he will go home and tell everybody he knows not to go to Osceola County,'' Bast said.

''If that same person goes home and tells everybody what a great time he had while he was here, well, that word-of-mouth advertising can accomplish more than brochures or billboards ever will.''

Gary Powell, executive director of the Kissimmee/St. Cloud Convention and Visitors Bureau, disagreed. Powell believes that increasing the number of law enforcement officers will not prevent crimes.

''There are two shark attacks a year at Daytona Beach, and no matter how many policemen you have, there are still going to be shark attacks,'' Powell said.

One of the biggest problems with the area is that people on vacation are not security-minded. To make matters worse, they often bring valuables with them for fear that their homes might be burglarized while they are away.

Sheriff's Lt. Fred Sailor remembers a case a few summers ago in which a hotel guest reported her mink coat stolen.

''When I asked her why she brought a fur coat to Florida in August, she said she didn't want to take the chance of having it stolen while she was on vacation,'' Sailor said.

Families save their money all year so they can take their dream vacation to Disney World. Often they carry a lot of cash. Seldom do they think about security. When they do, it usually is to hide their valuables in the hotel room that they think is secure.

''They hide their money and jewelry in the toilet tank, Bible or suitcases,'' Baker said. ''They think they're being clever, but the fact is there isn't such a thing as a secure hiding place in a hotel room.''